A Zoning System: The Power to Resolve Comfort Challenges

If everyone in your home would just stay in the same room where the thermostat is located 24/7, you might not need a zoning system. However, if different people occupy different rooms at various times of the day, there’s a good chance someone’s uncomfortable. There’s also a good chance you’re wasting energy overheating or overheating unoccupied rooms as well. A zoning system allows your single furnace and A/C unit to deliver different climates to diverse areas of the home controlled by independent dedicated thermostats.

Any house can present a mixed bag of comfort levels under the same roof. Some causes of these diverse conditions include:

• Rising hot air keeping the second level warm while leaving the ground floor chilly on a winter day.

• Windows with southerly exposure overheating certain rooms, while rooms facing the north wind require frequent heating.

• Design features such as cathedral ceilings or lofts in one area impose heating/cooling demands that differ from other areas. Houses with floor plans that include wings extending away from the main portion of the home may also comprise different comfort zones.

• Add-ons or renovated rooms with newer insulation and building materials may require less heat or air conditioning than rooms in the original structure.

Consisting of motorized dampers installed in your existing HVAC ducts and operated by a central controller, a zoning system opens and closes dampers on signals from independent thermostats located in each zone. This allows the conditioned air to flow into zones calling for heating or cooling while diverting the flow of air from zones where thermostat settings are already met. A zoning system sustains a variety of comfort levels with a single heating/cooling system. Because it reduces overheating and overcooling of unoccupied areas, it can also reduce energy costs up to 30 percent, as well as decreasing wear and tear on the furnace and air conditioner components.

Sobieski Services keeps comfort levels high and energy costs low by creating solutions like a zoning system. Our goal is to help educate our customers in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC & plumbing systems).

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